First Chances
by StarlitFire
Summary: The three bears are captured and brought to China where they meet another one of their kind: only in a different color. This is the adventure of the four bears and through their adventure...new feelings between two bears may occur.
1. Asuki: Prologue

A/N ~ Welcome to "First Chances"! Just a quick side-note this story will be written by two people. Starlitfire and myself (SnowArabian). We will be writing every other chapter so it's a joint effort! We will have the story posted on both of our pages. Enjoy and review!

Starlitfire: Hello! This chapter is written by SnowArabian. I hope to update with (my) the chapter that I written on Saturday. It will be in Toklo's perspective. Anyways, hope you all read and enjoy. Our idea of doing a two author story is differnt, and usual compared to other stories. We hope that all of our readers will like reading in two different writing styles. SnowArabian has very good detail, so I'm sure that you will like her writing. Although we haven't quite created a schedule for updating, we will try to update at least once a week if possible. I will work with her and try to post a schedule for all of my stories on my profile. I have completed the next chapter already, and am hoping to post it up on Saturday or Sunday. Okay, enough of my talking, I'll let you all get on to reading. See you in my next chapter!

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><p>Thundering rain clouds hovered over a bamboo forest. The forest was devoid of sound except for the splashes of rain falling on the marshy ground. The clouds threatened of a storm to come and paced back and forth in the sky. While most of the forest creatures were safe and in shelter, a mother panda and cub ambled out of their den. The cub was only 3 months old, living off of the milk of its mother.<p>

"Mama? Where does rain come from?" the meek and frail cub asked. It was the cub's first outing of the den since birth and she was very curious about the world.

"Come here, Asuki!" the mother bear ordered from a few paw steps ahead. The curious cub, Asuki, bounded forward with great excitement. "See that gray piece of sky? Rain is carried in the belly of that creature." Asuki whimpered at the sight of that gray monster. 'What if it comes down and eats me?' The young cub thought. "Don't be afraid, little one. Those creatures can't hurt us. They are far, far above us." The panda cub realized how different it was in the forest than in the den. Inside the den were two soft moss nests filled with feathers and other things her mother had found for her. It was usually dark except for the slight glint of sun trying to make it's way through. It was quieter in the den, with just the two of them. After walking until Asuki couldn't see the den anymore, she opened her jaws and yawned. Her paws ached, her eyes were drooping.

"I'm tired, mama," the timid cub squeaked about to collapse on the muddy floor.

"Let's head back to our den, little one," the mother murmured. She lowered her body to the ground so the young cub could climb up. On the way home to the den, Asuki snoozed on her mothers' large and soft back. Maybe someday I'll have the strength to explore the whole world…, Asuki thought as she closed her eyes and rested.

Back at the den, the tired mother laid the exhausted cub in the moss nest. Within moments, both bears were sound asleep.

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><p>Asuki woke up in a cold, damp stone cave. The cave seemed to be endless, with no entrance or walls. 'Where am I?' she thought, confused. The cub looked around for her mother but there was no sign of life. Dead plants were shriveled up on the side caves. There was no scent of other animals, predator or prey.<p>

"Hello?" Asuki yelled out. Her voice echoed throughout the cave. "Hello, hello, hello, hello…" 'What a strange place' she thought. Painted on the walls of the cave, were pictures of five bears; each a different color. White, brown, black, and black-and-white. 'Hey! That black-and-white bear looks like me' Asuki thought happily. She repeated the colors over and over in her mind. Black, Brown, White; Black, Brown, White. She had never heard of any black, brown, or white bears before. Suddenly, a shiver was sent down Asuki's spine. She could feel someone, a presence, somewhere near her.

"A quest…" a raspy voice whispered to her. Asuki flinched backing up to see who or what was talking to her. 'Who's there?' Asuki thought, finding she was frozen to the spot, unable to move her mouth. "One hope…" the voice repeated. 'What's going on?' Asuki yelled inside her head. "Save the world…" Asuki was freezing since she didn't have her mother's warm coat to press against. "Find the others…" the voice said, and disappeared.

Asuki woke up in a panic, panting and covered in sweat. She let out a sigh realizing it was just a dream. The cub got up and shook the loose moss out of her fur. The same cold shiver, from the dream, ran down Asuki's spine as she saw her mother's nest empty. Muddy pawprints led out of the cave and then some patches of fur. There were another pair of prints, flat-face prints, or at least that's what Asuki thought her mother had called them. She sniffed the nest. Her mother had been gone for several hours. 'Maybe she's just getting some food' Asuki thought, trying to reassure herself.

Asuki waited at the entrance of the den all day for her mother. At the end of the day when the moon was rising, the shock that her mother might be… dead, dawned on her. 'No, this has to be a dream' she thought. She frantically blinked as she tried to wake up from the horrible nightmare which had become her life.

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><p>AN (Starlitfire) Okay, well that was the prologue. Hope you all thought it was good.


	2. Toklo: Captured! Fight to the End!

A/N: Hello, since we are writing a shared story, I (starlitfire) will be writing every other chapter, and my friend (SnowArabian), will be writing some as well. Anyways, this is my first chapter, and the second overall. Hope you enjoyed the prlogue, and here's the next. Hope you like! ~starlit :)

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><p>Chapter 1-<p>

Toklo: Captured! Fight to the End!

Toklo woke up to a bad start on this early morning. Not only was he still tired, he had noticed a peculiar scent drifting near him and his group. It wasn't very pleasant smelling. _'What is that horrible stench_?' He wondered. With his keen nose, he could smell the scent, leaking into the air near him. It was hard to describe how it smelled, a mixture of burning, and the scent that the firebeasts had always left whenever they had pasted.

"Toklo, do you smell that?" He heard someone speak from behind him. He didn't even need to look back to know who it was, just her voice was enough to distinguish. It was Lusa, the small black bear that had came all the way from her home in the Bear Bowl to find him. It was easy to tell who was communicating with him by how they sounded and the way that they formed their words.

"Yes I do, in fact it woke me up from my sleep." He muttered grumpily. Last night was a particularly tiring day for the three bears. They had all trekked up a steep, and rocky mountain, hoping to have a better view of the area around. On the way up, Lusa had stepped on a sharp rock, and had injured her paw. Toklo, wanting to continue the trip to the mountain as fast as possible had decided to run all the way back down to gather some herbs for Lusa's injury. A little after sunset, the three bears had reached the top of the mountain. They were all mesmerized by the beautiful sight. Soon after, they had decided to stay for the night and wake up when the sun was brighter and could see the land in sight better.

"What is it?" Lusa asked, with curiosity teeming in her voice.

"I don't know." Toklo sat up and crawled out of the cave. He looked up and saw no light. "It's not sunrise yet?" He asked, to no one in particular.

"No, it isn't. It seems like we've been asleep for a whole night, yet there's no light yet." Kallik replied to his question. Toklo hadn't noticed that Kallik was near him.

"I'm going to go check out what's happening and what happened to the sun. Both of you stay here." He barked, with a serious tone. Both Kallik and Lusa knew not to protest against Toklo's wishes when he sounded like this. There was a bad feeling in their presence, they could all feel it. Something just wasn't right. He was serious, and both the female bears kept silent.

Toklo left the cave, and walked out onto the mountain. The scent was stronger here. He looked around, and could see nothing suspicious. Suddenly, he heard a flat face from behind him. The first thought that popped into his mind was danger. '_Oh no! The cave! I need to get them away from here_.'

Turning his head to the cave, he shouted to Lusa and Kallik as loud as he could. "LUSA, KALLIK, GET OUT OF THERE! RUN DOWN THE MONTAIN! THERE ARE-" Before he could finish his sentence, he felt a stinging pain near his left shoulder. He stared down at his body, and saw a weird looking object in his skin. The object was very minuscule, barely the size of his nails. He had seen these in the wild before. Flat faces had used them to drag a bear somewhere, they were asleep, and they didn't fight back when the flat face dragged them to a fire beast near by. Toklo wasn't sure why the bears never fought back or woke up. After all, he never had a mother that could explain these things to him. All he had now was Kallik, and Lusa.

The spirits of Toklo's family and friends had never left him though. Through every step of their journey, Tobi and Oka had been with him. He could sense their comforting presence and that calmed him very much. The spirits of his family had never hated him. Even since the beginning. Before Lusa. Toklo had always thought that Tobi and Oka had hated him, and that he was nothing but a useless bear following them around, and eating part of their food. But, since after their death, Toklo finally understood them better.

Toklo's mind immediately processed what was happening. The scent. It was from the flat faces.

A drowsy feeling came to Toklo. The object was working. It was making him sleepy. He needed to get rid of the flat faces before they reached the cave and found Lusa and Kallik. Using all the strength he could muster, he pushed on his paws and stood up, looking around to try to spot the flat faces.

He saw one, with bright yellow fur on it's face. He growled fiercely before charging straight at the flat face. The flat face didn't fight back, in fact he did quite the opposite: he ran the other way. Toklo rammed straight ahead, certain that his speed would outrun the flat faces wimpy legs. Before he could swipe his large brown paw outward, another flat face had pointed a firestick straight at him. He felt another sharp sting on his left rear foot. Immediately, his eyes starting shutting. He couldn't fight the tiredness in his eyes. It was too much.

One last thought entered his mind before he collapsed._ 'Lusa…'_

Toklo awoke once more, this time more peacefully. He couldn't tell where he was. For sure, it wasn't the mountain. He remembered the objects that the flat faces had shot into his body on the peak of the mountains. H was currently in a dark room, with nothing near him. Toklo could feel that he was moving, but he wasn't the thing that was currently moving, whatever he was in was. Nearby, he could see something shiny, shimmering even in the darkness. He inhaled with a deep and clear breath. The air was smogged, and made it harder to inhale, unlike the air that was clean and free in the wild. And noticed that this wasn't the scent of the wild. Suddenly he saw in the pitch darkness another dark body. 'Lusa!' _'Oh no was she hurt?_' "Lusa" he gently called out to her. She didn't respond. "Lusa!" He said, slightly louder than before while nudging her with his paw. She still didn't move. 'Was she alive?' If she wasn't Toklo couldn't bear the guilt, knowing that it was his fault that he couldn't protect her in time. And what about Kallik. Frantically, Toklo spun his around, several times trying to find the kind white bear. But- she was no where in sight. '_Where was she?_'

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><p>AN: So, that's the first chapter. The next chapter (which is already done) will be SnowArabian's. We hope to update within a week. Thanks for reading, and hope you liked it! ~starlit :) And...if you catch any mistakes, please leave a review or message me saying so. Also, do you like thoughts in italics, or not?


	3. Lusa: Too Close

A/N ~ Here's the 2nd chapter! Sorry it took so long to publish! Enjoy! ~SnowArabian

Chapter 2-

Lusa: Too Close

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><p>"Lusa! Wake up!" a voice growled as a sharp claw prodded her back.<p>

"Stop it… I'm tired," Lusa murmured. She shifted and closed her eyes again. A low hiss erupted behind her 'Who's that?' Lusa thought as she forced her tired eyes to open. She blinked and saw a grizzly clawing at a steel metal cage. 'Huh?' Lusa thought, confused. Her heart skipped a beat as she realized it was her companion, Toklo.

"W-what happened?" Lusa stuttered.

"Some flat-faces cam and shot us with fire sticks on the mountain," Toklo replied. Lusa gasped at the thought, then nodded to Toklo to continue. "I tried to warn you… I really did… But it was too late…" Toklo's voice broke and buried his head in his paws. Lusa nudged Toklo's side letting him know she was fine.

"You did your best, Toklo. No other bear could have protected us," Lusa whispered.

"Well I mostly wanted to protect you," Toklo said, almost so soft that Lusa thought she had imagined it. A warm feeling burst through her body. 'Only me?' Lusa thought happily. Perhaps it was true; that Toklo was becoming more than a friend. "You know, because you're injured…" Toklo added gruffly and walked to the other side of the cage. 'Ah, now there's the old Toklo I know' Lusa thought.

The day passed on while Lusa imagined how to escape this place. She had no idea where they were, just that there was a cage surrounding them and occasionally, the cage would jolt, which meant they were moving.

"Toklo?" Lusa whispered in case he was sleeping. A grunt cam from across the cage, signifying he heard. "What happened to Kallik? How will we find her and why isn't she here with us? W-what did the flat-faces do to her?"

"I'm sure she's fine. Who know's what the flat-faces do?" Toklo growled. Urjurak knew about the flat-faces…' Lusa thought sadly. She imagined Kallik, still on Smoke Mountain, looking for her companions all alone. 'We've got to get out of here as soon as possible!' Lusa determined.

Lusa heard voices nearby and pretended to be asleep. Two flat-faces walked in and paced around the cage. They were both speaking gibberish but Lusa heard "black bear", "grizzly", and "food" within theirconversation. Both flat-faces left, but returened with fish and fruit.

Lusa's mouth watered as she inhaled the sweet scent of the ripe, tender fruit. 'Mmm...' Lusa thought as she grasped a piece of fruit. She gobbled it up and then turned in surprise at her companion. Toklo hadn't moved toward the food and continued to lay there, motionless.

"Toklo, are you feeling okay? Why aren't you eating?" Lusa asked concerned, but tried to hide her worries.

"Hm… what? Oh yeah… I'm f-" Toklo started but twitched with a jolt of pain. "L-l-lusa…" he murmured weakly and curled into a ball.

"Toklo!" Lusa yelped, dropping her fruit and rushing to his side. His usually bright eyes were squinted with pain, his claws were clenched tightly. 'What's wrong with him…? He can't be… he can't be dying… Can he?' she thought.

"N-no, Toklo! P-please! I-I can't l-live w-without you! I-I don't have K-kallik to protect m-me… W-what about our quest?" Lusa stuttered. "D-don't leave me!" she pleaded. Flat-faces rushed in the room, yelling to themselves in their language. Memories flashed back to the Bear Bowl where Oka had been taken and had never returned. They removed Toklo from the cage and shut the door, harshly. 'No!' Lusa thought weakly, and slumped down in a corner whimpering.

She woke up on a freezing cold floor, in a pitch black room. 'Wha…' she thought to herself, trying to stand up but finding her paws were slipping and sliding on the steel floor. 'This must be a different cage… The other cage I could at least stand up in…'

"Toklo? Are you back?" she whispered through the blanket of darkness. Even with her night vision, Lusa couldn't detect anything. She could hear faint scuffing noises outside of the cage, but assumed it wasn't him. 'Please come back, Toklo…' she thought. 'Safely' Lusa added, with a hint of regret.

Soft hands gently picked up Lusa and awoke her from her deep sleep. 'What's going on?' she thought. Several flat-faces surrounded her, making her cower and realize that fighting was useless. Lusa glanced over at the cage and saw a sleeping Toklo, unaware of the impending dangers she might face. She really wanted to yell over at him, to tell him to protect her. 'No' she decided. 'I can take care of myself. With or without my friends' The flat-faces securely clamped a rope over her mouth, making her unable to open or close her mouth. 'A-am I off to become a tree spirit? Forever watching my friends try to finish their quest?' Lusa thought.

'Hmm.. how can I escape?' Lusa thought hopelessly. Examining the flat-faces home, she couldn't find a door, or even a window to break through. Lusa knew what escape exits looked like, she, Toklo, Urjurak, and Kallik had their share of escaping things quickly. Suddenly a beam of sunlight burst through the wall as the flat-faces carried her past a window into a forest. She fought the urge to jump out of their arms, but made a mental note to remember where it was. 'Wait… that's not a forest…' Lusa thought confused. 'More like a large leafy plant. And there were no plants near Smoke Mountain… Quite the opposite' Lusa thought as she imagined the barren, rocky landscape. 'Where have we ended up now?'

Lusa shifted, trying to get a better glimpse at the large plants but quickly lost sight of them as they forced her back into position. She was carried into a very bright room, so bright that it forced her to squint as she entered. Lusa could make out a table of shiny, silver objects, quite like the ones she had seen the flat-faces use on… dead… animals… Realization struck Lusa as she yelped, trying to escape. 'No!' Lusa thought. 'I really am going to turn into a tree spirit! I'm sorry Toklo… Kallik… You'll have to finish the quest without me!' Lusa thought as she quit the struggle against the flat-face and closed her eyes for the last time.

Toklo woke up in the steel cage, unsure of what had happened earlier. A faint scent of Lusa lingered in the air but hadn't been renewed in a couple of days. 'Fool! You left Lusa alone and now she's gone!' Toklo thought as he frantically clawed at the cage, trying to reach his way to Lusa…

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><p>AN: Hi, since I (starlit) will be doing the next chapter, I believe that I will be able to have it up around the end of this month. I now have a total of 3 stories, and it takes a lot of work to update all of them. Sorry for the long wait, but hoped you enjoyed this chapter by SnowArabian. If you could, please leave a review telling us how it was. Much thanks to all of our reviewers! :) See you in our next update!


	4. Kallik: Reoccurances

A/N: Here's the next chapter! Hope you all enjoy! Sorry for the delayed update.

Chapter 3

Kallik: Reoccurrences

Kallik was laying on top of a gray rock when she had woken up. The last thing she had remembered was the strange scent coming from outside of the mountain that she and her bear friends were staying on. 'Where are they now?' Kallik wondered. She looked at her surroundings and saw nothing familiar. She was surrounded by other white bears. She saw many no claws surrounding them, but none of her friends were in sight. 'Where am I?' She wondered. 'Is this what Lusa was talking about: a bear bowl?'. Kallik was unsure where she was or what she should do. She saw other bears that were ignoring her, not even noticing her presence. There was much white powdery snow around her, just like the Place of Everlasting Ice. 'Was she in the wild still? It sure looked like it.'

Kallik moved around, and checked out the place. It was a rather large exhibit, with many trees, and rocks pertaining to the Arctic In the center of the exhibit was a large lake that was frozen. There were fishes in it and Kallik could see many other polar bears catching fish in the lake. "I wonder if there are seals here." She quietly mumbled to herself. Unknown to her, someone near her had heard her speak.

"Are you new here?" The small white bear to the left of her said. Kallik could tell that this bear was kind, being the only one that spoke to her

"Yes, I am new I just arrived. Where are we by the way?" Kallik asked, hoping to find some answers

"We are in a zoo. Some no claws take care of us and feed us. Life here is nice, but it's limited in some ways. What's your name? I'm Reina." The young she-bear spoke kindly and excitedly.

"I'm Kallik. Are we in the wild?" She asked, trying to find a way to get back out and into the wild to find her friends.

"Hm? What was that? Wild, you say? What's a wild?" Kallik couldn't believe this. How could she not know what the wild is?

"You know, the place where there's ocean and ice forever. The world so long that you can never reach the ends of the world. You haven't been there? Where were you born?"

"I was born here, in the zoo. I'm not quite sure what a wild is, but I've never heard of it. I know what a zoo is though!"

"How did I get here…" Kallik said to herself., ignoring Reina.

"I can ask my mom! She wasn't born here. I don't know where she's from though. She never told me. Perhaps she's from this wild place too! That would be so exciting. Come with me!" With that, Reina quickly sat up and started sprinting to the other side of the area.

"Okay, wait up though!" Kallik started yelling towards her. 'Wow Reina's fast for a non-wild bear.'

A few moments later, Kallik had pretty much seen all of the place. It wasn't very big, not like the wild that could never be fully explored.

"Momma! Look what I found! A new bear friend has arrived today!" Reina screamed to her mother who was still far away. The larger she- bear looked up and saw Kallik. She had a gentle expression on her face, and smiled to Kallik.

"Hello newcomer. I am Cipkuka. I see you have met my loud daughter Reina."

"Yes I have, she is a very bright bear for her age. She knows much."

"Momma! I have a question! How did Kallik get here? She says that she's not from here. She doesn't even know where we are!" Reina was overexcited and bouncing.

"Kallik, where are you from? Are you from the wild?" Cipkuka looked shocked, to see a wild bear.

"YEAH! That word. Momma, what's it mean?"

"One second dear, I'm talking with Kallik."

"Aw, okay." Reina looked disappointed.

"Yes, I am from the wild. Is that where you have come from?" Kallik was relieved to see that someone here had known what the wild was and could know where she was from.

"Yes, I am also from the wild. Where are you from, young one?"

"I was born in the -Sea. I traveled with some bears all around the wild to save it. We were staying on a mountain one night, and that's the last thing I remember."

"What a coincidence, my mate is also from the - Sea. Perhaps you might know each other. I have not heard of that place, but my knowledge of the wild isn't that large. I was only out in the wild for a portion of my life. I was mainly brought up here."

"The father of Reina is also from the place I was born? What's his name, perhaps I might know him. I was very young back then, but I might know him."

"He is over on the other side of the zoo right now. The no claws have took him away because of his sickness. He was engaged in a fight a little while ago with another bear here, and he became injured. He has been gone for a few days now, but I'm sure that he will return soon. When he returns, you can meet him. He is a very kind bear. I'm sure you will get along with him well. He is your age as well. "

"I would like to meet him. He seems like a kind bear, why would he be in a fight?" Kallik found this place very interesting. It was almost like the Last Wilderness.

"He was brought in, trying to defend Reina. The father of another bear, Tofuke was angered at Reina. "

"Oh, I see. " 'What a sad outcome' Kallik thought.

"Yes, but the no-claws will take care of him. They always have."

Suddenly, something in Kallik's mind clicked. 'The flat faces are good…they feed us and take care of us when we are sick.' Lusa's words. She must have been in a Bear Bowl! Were Lusa and Toklo here too? Maybe nearby in a brown bear and black bear zoo?

"Momma, can you tell me about the wild?" Reina spoke up.

"I will, but not now honey, we have a visitor." Cipkuka told her bear cub.

Then, a loud clicking sound was heard. "What's that?" Kallik asked, unknown to the happenings at this 'zoo/bear bowl' place.

"It's the sound of no-claws entering. They might have brought my mate back! We must hurry to the sound." Reina started yelling 'Daddy's back!' throughout the time they spent moving towards the sound. Kallik slowly followed, and wondered who Cipkuka's mate would be.

When she arrived there, she was shocked. She didn't need to get introduced to Cipkuka's mate, she already knew who it was. She looked up and saw him staring into her eyes, also recognizing who she was as well.

A/N: Yay, okay I have finished this chapter! I will be gone from 3-23 to 4-2. So there won't be any updates, but in that week, I will try to write 2 chapters so when I get back, there will be a lot more updates. We really need to work on updating more. We're sorry for the long wait and are hoping that you are all liking the story so far. So~ expect the next update…..which SnowArabian will be writing to be…around the beginning of April. I should be able to have an update by 4-5. I'll try to update earlier if possible, but once again sorry for the long wait. Thanks for reading and hope you liked it! Please Review! Thank you


	5. Asuki: Gone

A/N ~ Asuki's time! What secrets does she hold? Enjoy! ~SnowArabian

A/N: Here's the chapter that everyone's waiting for! Hope you enjoy and please review! Thank you!

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><p>Chapter 4<br>Asuki: Gone

The small panda bear panted and tried to catch her breath before she started off on a run again. 'Is this how it's always going to be? Running from them, eternally?' Asuki thought. She risked a quick glance behind her shoulder, but saw nothing but a trail of her muddy paw prints. How many sunrises had she been on the run? Asuki had lost count of the endless days. Occasionally stopping for bamboo and water, she had been on the run ever since she had found her mom. Asuki's mom was scrawny and unfed, trapped in a cage.

Her mother had begged her to leave and keep running forever, to not be captured by the people who caught her. Her mother had explained that they were smugglers, trying to capture the rare panda bears. Asuki shared her last moment with her mom, then hurried out into the endless forest. Her instincts told her to avoid any moving objects, animal or flat-face as her mother had called them. She had faced tough situations before, but nothing like this.

Running endlessly, trying to escape, tired the young panda greatly. Asuki had mud caked in her fur, tangling and matting it. Staring at her reflection in the river, she saw her eyes looked dull and empty. With the dried and thick mud coating her fur, it had turned her more of a brown shade. Asuki longed to crawl into a river, to clean her fur as her mother's tongue had once done; but she might get swept away in the fast flowing water. Besides, she needed to follow her mother's carful instructions.

'Stop only when you need to. Don't trust anybody, or anything. Use camouflage; a fancy word for blending in to your surroundings. Lastly… stay alive.' Asuki recalled in her mind. She blinked back tears as she remembered her mother's voice, hoarse and weak. Shaking her head, Asuki continued on the muddy trail. Tall bamboo stalks whipped past her becoming a blur and occasionally stinging her legs. 'Where am I going?' Asuki asked herself, growing dizzy and faint. She hadn't slept in days, she'd always been on the run. Her legs ached to stop, her eyes threatened to close. 'I guess I can rest for a while, I'll be safe if I hide myself well…' Asuki thought. How wrong she would be…

Asuki woke up panicked, her heart racing. She had a horrible nightmare about the hunters coming to get her. 'When will that reality come true…?' she thought to herself, miserable. It had rained overnight, the ground marshy and soggy. Risking a glance, Asuki swiftly stared deep into the bamboo forest looking for movement or any sign they might have caught up to her. She sat crouched, teeth bared, ready to defend herself. Giving up she thought 'Hm… suspicious… Where could they be?'. Twirling around she covered where she slept with leaves and bounded off into the forest.

A strange scent wafted through Asuki's nose. It had to be a recent scent or otherwise the rain would have washed all traces away. It seemed like a foreign, yet familiar scent… Her fur pricked up and she let out a deep growl, warning whatever it was to stay away. Asuki slowly advanced on the strange smell, finding it was coming from a plate of "food" in the middle of a clearing. A couple of times Asuki caught bamboo moving, but decided it was her imagination or the wind. Her mother's words burned in her mind. Should she take the risk? Was it worth it?

She hadn't eaten in days, her belly growling. She would have eaten some of the bamboo surrounding her, but it was too risky. A predator could easily follow the trail of broken stems and capture her when she wasn't looking. Besides, this bamboo had something special to it… Something you couldn't find in the forest. She was almost as bad as her mother, starved. If any bear saw her now, they wouldn't recognize her as the cute, joyful, curious cub she once had been two years ago.

'So much has changed…' a little voice whispered in her ear. The same one as in the dream. 'Who are you?' Asuki cried out desperately in her mind. No reply came to answer her. The starved panda bear's attention shifted to the food in front of her, tempting her. 'Maybe if I run in and grab it, then run out…' she plotted. Asuki decided on that plan and raced in, hoping to miss the predator hunting her.

Swish!

A mysterious silver object whizzed by her ear, barely missing her fur. 'Hah!' Asuki thought triumphantly. She was able to dodge the mysterious flying objects at first, but soon they began to multiply going faster and faster. 'Are they trying to kill me? I won't go down without a fight!'

Suddenly Asuki felt like she was going to fall asleep. Her paws slumped and her body fell to the muddy ground. Her body was too heavy for her paws, she couldn't support herself anymore. Looking around to see what happened caused the whole world to blur and gave her a headache. Everything happened, at least this is how it seemed, in slow motion. Flat-faces jumped slowly out of the forest and pulled out something in her fur. 'A silver object; is that what's causing this?' Asuki thought hazily before she dropped her head and closed her eyes.

Asuki woke up in a steel metal cage… with another bear. 'Mother?' she thought excited. The panda scrambled to her feet and ran up to her mother. 'Wait… that's not my mom… that's a… brown bear? Maybe they're is a really dirty panda bear like I was…' Asuki thought confused.

"You woke up faster than Lusa," the brown bear commented, his voice was rough like he hadn't used it in days.

"Lusa? Who's that? Can you tell me where I am? And who are you? Do you know where my mama has gone?" Asuki questioned, desperate for answers.

"Enough with the questions. I'll answer, you listen. Got it?" the brown bear answered gruffly, with a bit of an edge to his voice. Asuki nodded in agreement. "I'm not sure who you are or your mother is, but I have never seen your kind. Lusa and I were still trying to figure out where we were. Lusa… she was a black bear… She was friends with Kallik and I. My name is Toklo. We were on a … journey together and two days ago she was taken and hasn't come back. The flat-faces came in a dropped you off, unconscious."

"So Lusa was the one who helped you with your family? They're forgiven now, right?" Asuki asked, her expression softening.

"How'd you know about that, panda?" Toklo demanded, dazing and furious.

"I have a name; Asuki! You don't have to be rude!" Asuki protested, slightly scared of the seething grizzly in front of her.

"Asuki. Get some sleep. You just woke up from being unconscious. We'll talk later." Toklo spun around and paced at the edge of the cage.

'He's not the best tempered bear, but he's nice enough… I guess…' Asuki thought as she drifted off into a deep sleep.

"Asuki, Wake up!" a deep voice roused the panda from her slumber. 'Is it the smugglers?' Asuki thought as she lept up, ready to defend herself.

"Food's here." Toklo replied bluntly. Asuki sniffed the air, a tangy, sweet smell filled the cage. She shifted her gaze to the abundance of food in the center of the cage.

"What is it, Toklo?" she asked, curious and wondering why it wasn't bamboo.

"Fruit. Lusa really liked them…" Toklo grumbled.

"Hmm…" Asuki said out loud while picking up a piece of fruit. She bit into it and a sour taste spread through her mouth. "Blech! You never told me it would be sour!" she cried out.

"Then you didn't pick a ripe one. Choose the golden-yellow one. It should be ripe," Toklo instructed with a tinge of sadness in his voice.

"Fruit have to be ripe to eat? Oh…" Asuki said, crestfallen. "The food I eat, bamboo, can be eaten anytime. It's always sweet and juicy…" Asuki said dreamily, her mind drifting back to the rainy forest so long ago. A small growl form her belly shook her out of her daydream. Asuki clawed the golden-yellow fruit and took a small bite. "Mmm! It's sweet!"

"What's bamboo? Is it special to your kind?" Toklo asked.

"What do you mean by "my kind"…" Asuki said, a bit hurt.

"There are several kinds of bears. For example, I'm a grizzly bear. Kallik is a polar bear, her fur is white. Lusa was a black bear, obviously her fur was black," Toklo explained, a bit distant.

"I'm a panda bear! My fur is black-and-white. Bamboo is a giant green leafy plant, great for climbing and eating! It tastes really good, especially if it's just rained," Asuki said, enthusiastic.

"Lusa ate fruit, Kallik ate seals, and I eat fish," Toklo said.

"How did you guys all get together?" Asuki asked, her eyes brimming with curiousity.

"Lusa… well she uh… helped me with my family…" Toklo said. "You already know that though…" He studied her for a moment and then continued, "We found Kallik and we… went on a journey…" Toklo seemed nervous. "What about you, where did you come from?" Asuki felt he was secretly asking her how she knew about his family. She could see the confusion and rage in his eyes. 'I have to be careful about how I answer this…' Asuki thought.

"Umm…" Asuki said softly. She couldn't endanger Toklo and his friends with her fate, with the prophecy and dream. Yet somehow, she felt destined to help, to join them. No. She couldn't tell him or his friends, not now. 'Never…' a small voice whispered in her ear, confirming her terrified thoughts.

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><p>AN: (starlitfire) Since I will be updating the next chapter, expect me to have it updated around the 10th or so. Thank you for reading and hope you review telling us how you liked it. :)


	6. Toklo: Explanations

Chapter 5

Explanations

A/N: Hi! I am soo soo sorry for the delayed update. I had a huge feeling of not wanting to write this, so it took me so long. I feel bad now because SnowArabian already has the next chapter almost done. Well anyways, I'll let you go on and read chapter 5. I hope it was worth the wait. Once again….I'm soo sorry. Enjoy and please review!

A/N ~ Hey guys! Thanks so much for all the reviews, and I want to add that I've started Chapter 6! Yay! Enjoy! ~SnowArabian

Toklo sat besides Asuki, gazing at the smaller black and white bear. Toklo was surprised to say the least. He had seen a white bear and a black bear. But, to see a bear that was black and white, that was something new. Toklo had grown to like this new bear. Even in the time he had spent with her, he could already tell that this would grow to be one of his good friends. Maybe she would even become a companion.

Friends. Something that was new to him. He had never known the concept of friendship until recently. Kallik, Lusa and Ujurak had all shown him what friendship was. What friends were for. Now, here he was: making friends. The more time he had spent around other kind bears, life had gradually become more worth living.

"So, Toklo, where are you from?" He heard Asuki say from the side of his pointed ears.

"Far away," he replied with much briefness, he didn't want to tell her much about his past; considering that she had hinted she already knew. 'How can she already know? She… knew about my family… About Oka and Tobi…' he asked himself. 'How…' The fact that she knew bothered him. Like she had taken a part of his past and thrown it out into the open. How does a stranger know so much about your past…?

"Where? Like what are you close to? Are you from around here? Did you know my mother?" Asuki excitedly inquired.

"Not close. Not anywhere close. In fact, I don't even know where we are now. Do you?" He answered everyone of her questions, except for the last one. He knew that the first answers were enough to answer the last one, and that Asuki was smart enough that she could know the answer to her own questions. 'She talks too much. She reminds me of Lusa…She's also the same miniature size that she is.'

"So Toklo, how did you get here? You don't know either do you? How did you and your friends meet?" Asuki asked, as excited as ever. Toklo was astonished by how over excited she was and possibly how young she could have been. She couldn't have been more old then when Oka, his mother had left him to die. As Toklo had become older, he understood what Oka had been going through and had finally forgiven her. 'If she knows so much about my… family problems. Why is she asking all these questions?'

"Kallik and Lusa and I were resting in a cave on Smoke Mountain. I could smell something peculiar, so I investigated to make sure it wasn't dangerous. It smelled like…processed flat face food. Flat-faces leaped out and shot us with, what I thought were, fire sticks. Instead, they made us fall into a deep sleep. Lusa and I woke up on moving monster, but Kallik wasn't with us. We still don't know where she is… Lusa was taken away a couple of days ago… I hope she's okay. You came about a week after Lusa was taken, you slept for most of the time but you woke up eventually." Toklo explained with a sad look. He was still reminiscing about Lusa.

"What were you doing on a mountain? Just the 3 of you? My mama has always told me to never go somewhere in the open. Wasn't that dangerous and scary?" Asuki whimpered. Already feeling chilled at the thought of being in an open space just by herself without her mama with her.

"I was strong and fought anyone that dared to inflict harm upon us. Mostly, the danger was from flat faces and their fire sticks. Those death sticks are the most deadly thing out there…." Toklo continued, slowly fading his voice out. "Especially since you can't tell whether they're going to kill you or make you fall into a deep sleep." To Asuki, it would have sounded like a small grumble and that was in fact all she had heard for his last few words.

"How did you and your friends meet?" Toklo heard Asuki ask him through his acute ears.

"We were destined to save the wild, and that is what we did," he replied to her question, being as blunt as possible.

"You saved the wild?" Asuki exclaimed. Shocked with the fact that the wild was….dying? And that they saved it.

"Yeah…that is what I said…isn't it? You should listen better- I'm not repeating everything I say," Toklo growled to the small black and white bear. He was starting to get annoyed with the numerous amount of questions the younger cub had asked him, but was comforted as it reminded him of Lusa. A shadow crossed his face as he thought about the past.

"Are all brown bears mean and grumpy like you are?" The brave panda bear cub had asked Toklo. 'Is she purposely making me angry?' Toklo wondered, clenching his claws to vent.

"Are all panda bears as inquisitive and annoying as you are?" Toklo snidely countering back to Asuki's question.

"No, just me," Asuki said, feeling proud that she was successful in annoying her new furry brown friend. Toklo was much bigger than Asuki in size, even when he was her age.

"Yes, the wild was getting destroyed by flat faces," he finally answered, wanting to go and search for Lusa after he was done dealing with Asuki.

"Are they those 'smuggler' flat faces that my mama warned me about? I think they killed mama: is that why they are also destroying the wild? Why…?" The tiny cub asked…her eyes now filled with sorrow and regret.

"I don't know. But my friends and I destroyed one of the evil flat faces site. It was leaking this horrible scented, black, thick, disgusting liquid into the clean sea. The ice was covered with it and it made the ice slick and more slippery than ever." He chuckled as he added, "You should have seen Lusa sliding around out there. I haven't seen any here though. This place is much cleaner than where we came from." After he had finished explaining, he saw Asuki walk towards him. 'What is she doing…? She's going to invade my personal space! I just met her!' He thought, exasperated.

Asuki walked up to him and nudged him on his lower paw. Asuki wasn't big enough to touch his shoulder. "Aw, I'm sorry to hear that Toklo. What will happen here? Will the same thing happen here as it did where you were from?" Asuki asked him, with worry clearly showing.

"I don't know…but I will make sure it won't. Lusa, Kallik and I will save it. No matter what it takes." Toklo said with a hint of gentleness in his voice. He realized that he had scared the tiny cub. Asuki gave him a small nod. "It is our fate to save the wild and we are going to fulfill our destiny," Toklo roared while staring up into the clear blue sky above him.

A/N: Alright, this chapter took me about 2 weeks to write. I was so slow and this wasn't even that great of a chapter. Anyways, I apologize and hope you still liked it. The next chapter will be written by SnowArabian so expect a good one! Please review and I'll talk to you all in a few weeks. Expect the next chapter in a week or two. Bye! ~starlit


	7. Lusa: Escape

A/N – (SnowArabian) Hello everyone! So sorry for making you wait long for this chapter! Good thing is that it's at least 2,000! Thanks to everyone who has reviewed, starlitfire and I really appreciate it! Enjoy the chapter!

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><p>Chapter 6<br>Escape

_Darkness…Yes, pitch black… Peaceful…Quiet…Lonely…Depressing…This is what the Darkness brings…_The bear had never felt anything like this, it was beautiful, this wonderful darkness. It entered her mind, letting her slip through its veils of peacefulness… 'This is where I should be…' she thought, then let go of her memories…

A blinding light entered the dark, depressing dream, illuminating the world instantly.

The bear immediately closed her eyes, afraid to see, to open her eyes to the light. She flinched as she felt the light grow stronger and stronger. Her eyes begged to open, her paws ached to run after the darkness slipping away, out of the light. She squinted, barely seeing the light, but the darkness was already faded away. The bear closed her eyes again, hoping to evade the strong light.

A soft breeze barely touched her fur, dancing across it, teasingly. The light was gone, instead was a warm feeling. She could feel her heart was content, and had a strange sense of home. Taking a deep breath, the bear stretched her eyes open and nearly stepped back in surprise.

She **was** home. She was at the Bear Bowl. Nothing had changed, just the same. Her father was lounging in a cave, her mother eating by the trough. The white bears in the next glass cage were swimming and eating fish. She walked in amazement to the trees she used to climb, the elders who told her stories. Skipping over to her mother, she whispered "Mother, I'm home!" But her mother didn't turn around, she kept eating like she hadn't heard anything. 'W-what? Isn't she happy that I'm home?' the bear thought, crestfallen. The young bear tried to nudge her mother, but when she did, her beautiful home was fading away. 'No!' she thought, but it was too late.

Instead two bears filled her vision. One brown and one white… Memories flooded her mind, as she remembered the quest and her companions. Strangely enough, she couldn't remember their names… Instead, she yelled after them, "Hey wait up!" Unlike her mother they turned around quickly. The young bear's excitement and enthusiasm dropped as she noticed the furious and hateful looks of her companions. "Hey… what did I do wrong?" she asked, worried. The white bear turned around and stood nose touching nose to her. The white bear towered over her, making the smaller bear want to run but she kept her ground.

"You don't trust us…" the white bear hissed, anger and hurt flashing in her eyes.

"You don't want us…" the brown bear countered.

"You forgot us…" both bears simultaneously growled, then spun around on their paws and faded away.

'Am I supposed to know you?' the black bear questioned. The light was back, and stronger now than it was before. It tugged on her eyes, willing her to see the light. She wasn't sure how much longer she could resist… It grew brighter, and brighter, until it burned…***The bear could feel tiredness creeping along her body, her eyes willed to stay shut and her body grew heavier and heavier. Her eyelids fluttered, but couldn't seem to wake up all the way. She felt herself being lifted and brought into a dark room, nothing like her dream. She heard quiet murmurs and growls but ignored them as she felt nearly dead.

"Lusa!" a distressed voice called out clearly, making her try to open her sleepy eyes. 'Tell me later…' she thought as a metal clang rang through the room and she blacked out.

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><p>"W-what's going on?" Lusa asked out loud, her voice slightly slurred and she vaguely noticed she as stuttering.<p>

"Lusa, we're here for you…" A small, quiet voice assured. 'Who's that?' Lusa asked herself. She found that she was sprawled out on the ground. The small black bear struggled to sit up, but was pushed down with a firm paw.

"No, rest…" A gruff voice ordered. 'Toklo?' Lusa questioned. Following the voices' instructions, she curled in a tight ball and tried to shake off the headache she had since she woke up. Just as she was about to drift off to sleep, a word appeared in her mind, as clear as burning fire. 'Death…' Lusa whispered sweetly and serenely, then fell into a deep sleep.

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><p>A warm, pleasant light filled the room but it didn't burn. Lusa groaned and stiffly got up, shaking her pelt. She recognized a familiar face pacing by the edge of the cage.<p>

"Toklo!" she called out, happiness in her voice.

"Lusa? LUSA!" the usually grumpy bear yelled, his eyes brightening immensely.

"So you must be Lusa," a quiet voice stated behind her. She spun around to see a small black-and-white bear, almost smaller than her.

"Oh…," Lusa gasped, a bit surprised.

"Forgive me, my name is Asuki, I'm a panda bear. I came here a couple days ago and Toklo and I were waiting eagerly for your arrival. He told me a bit about your quest, and about you and Kallik," Asuki said softly.

"Oh, hi! My name is Lusa, if you haven't already guessed. I can explain the quest to you a bit more, Toklo isn't the best teacher in the world…" Toklo grunted, unhappy. "Well you aren't… Anyways it's nice to meet you!"

"You too! I hope you don't mind, but I've kind of joined your quest… Toklo said it would be fine. Our next plan is to escape and find Kallik. For some reason she was separated from you guys on the way here… Oh, and by the way, you can always go back and visit your family at the Bear Bowl…" the small panda explained, then hurried over to the food bowl to grab a piece of fruit. Even though the fruit called to her grumbling belly, Lusa stood, shocked that this new stranger had known about her family, much less the Bear Bowl…

In a low whisper, Toklo said "So she did it to you too… She knew everything about Oka and Tobi, not their specific names, but that I had family troubles… It's like I met her before, but I didn't remember her…"

"She's… she's done that before?" Lusa asked, shocked even more, and she didn't even think that was possible.

"Maybe she's a mind reader, who knows…" Toklo joked and inched closer, soon touching her nose with his. "Seriously though, it's good to have you back…" he whispered and then began pacing back and forth along the cage's edge. Lusa's heart fluttered as he approached her but quickly sighed a sigh of relief as he left. 'He's bolder, more open, less… the old Toklo I used to know… Perhaps that's a good thing, maybe Asuki is the help we need along this quest. Maybe she was destined to be with us all along…'

A fierce whisper grabbed Lusa from her deep, dark dreams into the daylight.

"Wha?" Lusa yelped, surprised at the violent paw shaking her body.

"We need to go. Now." Toklo whispered, and slowly tilted his head to the not locked cage.

"How? What?" The startled bear asked, questions running through her mind.

"No time to explain now. The flat-face will be back any second, with more. We have to get out now, while we can, and find Kallik. I'm sure she's near us somewhere…" Toklo said with a growl, then turned his attention on the ajar door. "Hurry, help Asuki out and let's bolt!"

'Where's Asuki?' Lusa thought, finding the small panda bear tangled up in netting. Determination burned in the young bears' eyes as she wiggled and squirmed to release the hold of the net. Lusa grabbed an edge of the net and pulled it off the small, struggling bear.

"Thanks," Asuki said with sincerity, and bounded off to Toklo's side.

"Okay, try to remain hidden and stay up against the walls…" Toklo instructed and stealthily crawled out the door. The two bears followed him, waiting until the flat-faces passed their spot in the hall before crawling to another hiding spot.

"Where's the exit?" Asuki whispered, her eyes filled with hope instead of fear.

"I'm hoping somewhere near, the smell of plants grows stronger and stronger as we head this way… Follow me and don't make a sound, not even a squeak!" The three bears were now in a hallway crawling with flat-faces, thankfully none of them were paying much attention.

Lusa spotted an open door out into a green leafy place. 'I think that's the place I passed while I was taken to be examined, or whatever happened to me…'

"Guys, over there is a door outside. I remember seeing giant green plants balanced on long stalks," Lusa whispered.

Asuki's eyes immediately lit up with excitement. "Thos are bamboo plants, they're especially yummy!" Asuki explained. "You find them in huge clumps where Mama and I used to live."

"Okay, it seems like the right place to go. Get ready to bolt…" Toklo ordered. "3…, 2…, 1… Go!"

All of the bears darted across the floor, slipping and sliding. Lusa heard a flat-face shout out frantically behind her, warning the others, but she didn't risk a glance behind her. She heard frantic yelps and felt some hands reach for her and her companions. 'No! We're almost there!' Asuki and Toklo suddenly skidded to a stop and changed directions without a warning, bolting out the doorway.

"Whoaaaa!" Lusa yelped as she clenched her claws trying to grasp onto the smooth, slick floor. With the doorway right in front of her, she gathered all her speed and launched out of the door after her companions.

Several feet out of the door, the three bears skidded to a stop and looked around, trying to place where they were. The brown dirt the bamboo was planted in, turned to a snowy white. 'Snow? Ice? Are we back in the arctic?' Notifying Asuki and Toklo, Lusa took the lead and stepped out into the snowy wonderland. There were many, many bears beyond the veil of bamboo, except they weren't the same color. They all looked like Kallik, polar bears. Memories flew back to Lusa as she remembered the stories Kallik used to tell about her mother and brother. She also remembered at the bear gathering, the possible millions of white, black, and brown bears she had seen. 'Hm, that's strange… There weren't and panda bears… I wonder why?' Lusa had thought she had found hope and possibly some friends in this arctic terrain, but realization struck her. 'Kallik could be anywhere within all of these polar bears. Oh great, how are we going to find her now?' Lusa thought in frustration. The three bears walked along the side where the snow and bamboo met, careful to not draw any unwanted attention to themselves.

"We should try to disguise ourselves as best as we can. We also have to be quiet, we don't want to start a fight with these unknown bears. It's bad enough we don't know where we are…" Toklo warned. He demonstrated by rolling in the snow to cover his fur. Although he had some patches of brown still showing, it was better than nothing. Asuki did the same, finding no trouble to hide her black-and-white coat, but shivering.

"I-I'm so c-cold!" Asuki squeaked, shaking.

Lusa followed the others and rolled in the snow, covering up her fur as well. "We need to get a clue on where we are, let's check around…"

Toklo and Asuki managed a nod, then searched their surroundings. Lusa looked around, finding a thin layer of glass around the snowy wonderland. 'What could that be for… If we're in the wild… then what use would that have?' Peering over at the opposite side of the "cage", Lusa noticed brown bears clawing on trees, marking their territories. 'What?'

Realization struck Lusa, causing her to stagger back a couple of steps. She gasped as she recognized the surroundings. "We-we're in a Bear Bowl…" Lusa whispered, astonished.

"Is it yours?" Toklo demanded, sounding mystified too.

"Toklo, this isn't my Bear Bowl… Otherwise where the brown bears are, there would be black bears… But why were we taken here?"

Her eyes scanned the room, noticing the little differences this Bear Bowl had and her old one didn't. A deep part of her wished she was back home, and she noticed a tinge of sympathy from Asuki. Lusa gasped in horro as she saw something in the middle of the room she wasn't expecting. Two worried looks from her companions followed her gaze till they saw the same thing she did.

A motionless Kallik.

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><p>AN – (SnowArabian) In the next chapter you'll get to hear Kallik's POV! Yay! Review if you can, tell us what you think!

A/N: Yay, school's almost over, so you can expect shorter waiting periods. I will make the next chapter 2,000 words long as well. I'll promise to have it done by the end of June.


	8. Kallik: Getting Back Together

A/N: Sorry for such a delay in updating. It really should NOT take me a month to write 1,000 words…yet it did. L I had about 700 words done in the 2nd week. I just never had the chance to finish then update. .Especially since it was the last week or so of school. I went out with friends and I never update. I feel bad for my neglecting of this story. Here's the next update and I hope you enjoy. This chapter isn't my best, but I hope it'll do for now. I'm thinking of starting possibly another story, but SnowArabian has been nagging me to not. She knows me well enough to know that I would even take longer to update my other stories when I'm preoccupied with other stories. You can expect me to update again by the end of this month. SnowArabian will be done halfway through the month then I will finish in two weeks as well. Two weeks=1,000 words….not that bad right? Lol, anyways I'll stop talking…hope you enjoy!

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><p>Last Time:<p>

When she arrived there, she was shocked. She didn't need to get introduced to Cipkuka's mate, she already knew who it was. She looked up and saw

him staring into her eyes, also recognizing who she was as well.

Chapter 7  
>Getting Back Together<p>

"Taquiq…" She whispered quietly to herself. "What are you doing here?" She asked, full of shock, mixed with happiness.

"Kallik!" He shouted, and went forward to get closer to the white bear. "I thought I'd never see you again!" Besides them, they received weird looks.

"Mommy, how does Kallik know daddy?" Reina asked Cipkuka, who's expression was filled with as much bewilderment as her cubs.

"I… don't know. Taquiq, could you explain to me how you know the new bear Kallik? Surely you couldn't have met her yet, she just arrived here today."

"Cipkuka, you've met Kallik. She's my sister. We were separated a long time ago, on the other side of the world,, remember? I told you the story when I first met you. It must be fate that has brought us here together again. Maybe it is mother's ice spirit." Taquiq looked up at the clear sky above, as if saying 'thanks' to Kallik and his mother, Nisa.

"Sister? You mean the one who you left you to join her friends in saving the world? That is Kallik?" Cipkuka turned to face Kallik. "Oh, Kallik, I have heard many stories of you. You friends, the black and brown bears too. Are they really here as well? I cannot believe this is really happening."

"Kallik! Does that make you my aunty? Yay! Aunty Kallik! What happened to you and daddy, why weren't you here together when mommy met him? I wish I would have known you earlier." The overexcited cub yelled, jumping from her mother's side to Kallik's.

"Now now Reina, we should let Daddy and Aunty have some time together, they haven't seen each other in a long long time. We can go over and have some food, alright? Come along now." Cipkuka and Reina both left the two sibling bears as they started to eat some of the fresh fish that the no-claws had placed for them to eat.

"Kallik, why are you here?" Taquiq asked her with seriousness, after his new family were out of hearing distance.

"I don't know. We were on a mountain once, then we all smelled something weird. Toklo went outside to see what it was, then he never returned. Now, I have no idea where anyone else is. Have you seen them Taquiq?" Kallik was desperate to find them. Maybe if she was lucky, Taquiq may have seen Toklo or Lusa. She then turned to face all the other white bears that were slowly starting to crowd. "Has anyone seen a black or brown bear around here?" She heard no response from the other bears. They then started to walk away, as if they were thinking what a crazy bear Kallik was. Quit mumbles were heard as they walked.

Taqiq let out a loud roar. "Do not walk away! Answer this bear! Has any one of you seen a black or brown bear here recently?" The other white bears cowered at the voice of Taquiq.

Suddenly, a smaller white bear approached Kallik, with her mother and Taquiq glaring furiously at her. "Um, I saw a brown and bear being held in those no claws traps about 2 days ago. They were both asleep."

Kallik suddenly had many questions to ask the younger cub. "Was the brown bear big, and the smaller black one a lot smaller?"

"Yes," the small shy bear replied before running away.

"Thank you!" Kallik shouted out to the smaller bear before she was out of earshot distance. The other bears in the cage with Kallik were all staring at her. How could they have believed their talks about bears that were black and brown. Of course they were all just making up a story for attention. Their would never be any bears except polar bear. The white bears were the most strong and dignified of all bears.

Kallik was feeling happier knowing that her two best friends were safe. And, at least they were somewhere near. They would be rejoined again, she knew it. There had been cases where one of them had been separated for wider distances and still managed to get back together…'this isn't going to be a problem at all,' she thought to herself, trying to remove any negative thoughts.

"What are you planning to do now Kallik?" Taquiq aked, snapping Kallik out of her thoughts.

"I'm not really sure. I think I'll just wait to see what happens. If the ice spirits send them to me, then it's proof that we belong together and we can't be separated….but if not then," she ended, her snout facing downwards. "I don't know…" she finished.

"Don't worry Kallik, everything will end up fine," Taquiq reassured her.

Then suddenly, two large no claws entered the exhibit. There was a lot of sounds coming from their mouths, but Kallik couldn't comprehend or hear any of it. Before she could even move, 2 large objects were seen coming straight at her. All of the other bears had moved to the furthest corners of the exhibit when the no claws came in. "KALLIK MOVE!" Taquiq had shouted to her. It was to no avail. The objects were shot into Kallik. She could feel a tingly sensation coming from the two injured incisions on her body.

She was fainting a second later, the sounds and smells of the other polar bears, slowly fainting away…

The next thing she heard was the echoing sounds of her name being called again..again..over and over. 'Kallik, Kallik, Kallik.'

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><p>AN: End of chapter 7. Hope you like it. You already knew where this chapter would end if you read the most recent ones. We make sure to fit all the chapters together the best we can. Anyways, please review. Remember, all reviews inspire to make us write faster. We'll be back in 2 weeks! Hope to hear from you!


	9. Asuki: Reunited Again

A/N - *Gasps* 2,008 words! And its early! Yay! Actually, I was forced to finish it today, cause I'm going on a trip soon and couldn't publish it from there. It depends on how fast StarlitFire writes, but my next chapter might need to be published in 3 weeks so 3 weeks = 1k to 2k. I don't know, yet… Okay, well enjoy reading! =) ~SnowArabian

A/N (StarlitFire)- Wow, I was just reminded by SnowArabian if we got any reviews for this chapter. I just totally forgot to update on Wednesday. So it's about 3 days late. Sorry, but SnowArabian did finish this on Monday or Sunday. Hm, so expect an update in maybe about 1 and a half weeks or so? Thank you!

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><p>Chapter 8<p>

Reunited Again

Asuki heard gasps from her companions as they frantically ran over to attempt to wake up Kallik. A thought crossed her mind, which she immediately wished she could take back. 'Is Kallik… dead?' Running forward, sending flurries of snow behind her, she ran to the young polar bear. Toklo growled softly in frustration as he desperately tried to wake up his companion. Lusa lay next to Kallik, hoping to warm her up.

Asuki shuffled her feet, unsure of what to do to comfort this new stranger. Suddenly, her mind flowed with images of four different colored bears walking side by side like in her dream. 'It… it's us!' Asuki gasped with recognition, blaming herself for not getting it sooner. 'So really, fate destined us to be with each other? And none of us knew…' Bringing the panda back to the present, an electric jolt tingled up her spine.

Natural instincts flooded her mind, she remembered the distinct and sweet taste of banboo, the few but deadly predators, and survival techniques. Asuki sniffed the air, Kallik didn't smell ill or even close to dead, but she did smell funny. 'It must be something else causing her to be in a deep sleep…'

Pressing her ears to the cold, white, snow covered fur of Kallik, Asuki listened. She was able to tune out all of the voices and feelings of others. The small panda heard a faint "thum-thump" of a heart, indicating that Kallik was alive. "She's alive." Asuki announced breaking the dreadful silence.

"Of course she's alive." A gruff, protective voice snapped. "She was only hit by a gun that will make her sleep long. Stupid flat-faces doing stupid things for no reason."

Asuki hastily turned around to find herself staring at a huge polar bear, a little bigger than Kallik. 'Why am I so small compared to other bears?'

"Taqqiq! Taqqiq!" Two surprised voices chimed in, one less enthusiastic than the other. 'Huh? Who's Taqqiq?'

"How have you been? How did you get in a Bear Bowl? What happened to Kallik? Will she be okay?" Lusa blurted out, her mind going a million miles a second.

"Hold on, Lusa. I'm sure he'll get to those questions later. For now, Kallik is going to be okay. That's what you said, right?" Toklo questioned.

"Yes, for the twentieth time. Now hurry, let's hid in that cave over there before the flat-faces return…" Taqqiq ordered. "I see we have a lot to talk about…" The giant polar bear trailed off, eying Asuki. 'Did I do something wrong?'

Taqqiq lifted his sister's body on his back and charged through the snow to the cave while the others followed behind. Taqqiq was in the lead, while Toklo and Lusa spread out behind him, with Asuki bringing up the back. The small panda's stride was shorter than any of the other older and bigger bears and she had to struggle to keep up.

Asuki followed the others, blinking back the snow churned up by the others paws which clung to her fur and face. 'S-so cold!' She hastily scrambled to her right, where the cave awaited them.

"We're safe. For now…" Taqqiq announced. He set Kallik down in the snow and continued, "Right now, all she needs is time. She should wake up soon. Heat isn't a problem for polar bears, her coat should keep her warm enough." Taqqiq glanced at the other three shivering bears. "I'm not sure about you though…"

"No. We're fine." Toklo answered gruffly, his teeth slightly chattering.

"Okay, your death," A sarcastic remark came from the polar bear. "Now, last time I saw you… It was four of you guys, without that."

Asuki felt a surge of anger rise in her chest. "Hey! I have a name! And it isn't 'that'! Asuki is my name!" she protested.

"Sure… Asuki. Well what happened to that other bear, and how'd he get replace by her?"

Toklo opened his mouth to respond, but was interrupted by Lusa.

"She's nice! Asuki has joined us as our companion, and last I remember, you refused to join our group! You don't have a right to judge who joins our group or not!" Lusa shouted, sticking up for her new friend. Angry, Lusa took a step forward to make sure Taqqiq understood her.

Toklo placed a steady paw on the outraged black bear and whispered something quietly in her ear. Lusa took a step back and regained her composure.

"Lusa is right. You can't judge us, but if you really want to know… Ujurak decided he wanted to go his separate ways from us. He felt he had another purpose, so he left out group." Toklo murmured sadly. "Asuki joined us when the stupid flat-faces brought us here. We were put in the same cage and she helped me find Lusa… She's a good companion, and I'm glad to have her at our side."

Asuki, who had been staring at the ground ashamed, glanced at Toklo. 'And to think, a couple days ago I thought his grumpy side was all I'd see…'

Kallik began to stir, twitching occasionally and mumbling quiet things to herself.

"She should wake up really soon. The medicine they shoot bears with never lasts long…" Taqqiq commented, noticing the worried looks of the other bears.

"NO! Nisa! NO, don't leave us!" Kallik shouted out in her sleep, instantly startling the other bears.

"She's talking about our mom in her sleep… Probably a nightmare…" Taqqiq explained.

Asuki walked up to the young polar bear and placed a paw on Kallik's head. "Shh… It's alright… It's just a nightmare…" she whispered to the distressed bear. Kallik's yelling was replaced with quiet murmuring.

"How'd you do that? She never would respond that way when she was having a nightmare when we were cubs…" Taqqiq asked, a bit stunned and curious.

"I… I don't know… I just felt I should stop Kallik's nightmares…" Asuki responded, a bit flustered.

Kallik started to blink slowly, as if adjusting to the lighting in the cave. "Where… Where am I?" The confused polar bear asked.

"You're in a cave. Don't worry, you're safe. Your friends came looking for you…" Taqqiq answered.

Kallik's eyes opened fully after hearing her brother's voice. She stared into Asuki's face, realizing a minute later she had no idea who she was. "AHH! Who are you?" Kallik jumped up, and ran to Toklo and Lusa.

"H-hi! I'm Asuki! I'm a panda bear, and I met Toklo and Lusa while we were in a cage together. It's nice to meet you! I've heard so much about you!" The panda introduced herself, not sure what to think of about Kallik.

"Oh, sorry. I was a bit startled. I'm Kallik, but you probably know that by now."

"We need to plan our escape from this place as soon as possible. The flat-faces may know we're in here now, we're not sure. We need a distraction…" Toklo ordered.

"We're in a Bear Bowl… We tried to escape, but instead we entered the polar bear's place. But I'm glad we did! Then we found you!" Lusa explained to clueless Kallik.

"Oh yeah, sorry. I'm a bit shaken up… I had the weirdest dreams about Nisa…"

"Kallik." Asuki said. The white bear looked over at Asuki, whose eyes had turned cloudy.

"Whoa, is there something wrong with you? Are you okay?" Kallik asked worried about the condition of the bouncy, excited panda she had met.

"You have to stop blaming yourself. It wasn't your fault. No one could have prevented it, no matter how much you long for it…" Asuki panted, for some reason suddenly tired. Asuki fell to the snow, unable to hold herself up anymore.

"Asuki!" Lusa yelled, running over to her collapsed friend.

The young panda opened her eyes slowly, revealing they were back to normal. "Y-yes? How did I… end up in the snow?"

"You… you worried me! You were talking to Kallik… and then you collapsed!" Lusa explained, checking over her friend for injuries.

Asuki frowned. "I.. don't remember talking to Kallik…"

Meanwhile, Kallik was slowly stepping back from Asuki. "How, how'd you know about that!"

"It's… sorta her thing. She did it for Lusa and I. That's why we think she's destined to be with us…" Toklo growled, calming his spooked friend.

"She… she read my thoughts!"

"Which proves she's special like us. Come on, we have to get moving," Toklo ordered, spotting a couple flat-faces lurking near them, looking at all the bears. "We need a distraction."

"I'll do it. I'll run out and make them follow me. You guys go out through that door over there. Although, once you get out, it'll be hard to escape, but I think you can do it," Taqqiq said.

Kallik, still stunned by Asuki, nudged her brother. "Hey… I'll miss you. Maybe I'll see you again, perhaps our paths will cross again. Good bye… Good luck with your family."

"Perhaps..." Taqqiq echoed her.

Lusa and Toklo murmured goodbye to the helpful polar bear. "Okay, I'll get ready… 3… 2… 1…"

Taqqiq darted out of the shelter of the cave and ran wild through the Bear Bowl, surprising the flat-faces. Toklo and the others ran out towards the door. "Hurry!"

Asuki followed the others as fast as she could, and tried to not think about the astonished flat-faces chasing after them. 'We just gotta make it to that door, then we can have freedom…'

Reaching the door, several flat-faces appeared, holding fire sticks in their hands. 'What do we do now? We're trapped!' Toklo started first, running into the flat-faces, not caring how surprised they were. He cut a path through them, and they were still extremely confused that a bear would be that bold.

Once they had passed through them, the flat-faces came to their senses and started firing. "Guys! Dodge them best as you can! We just need to make it out of this crazy building and then we're free!" Asuki called out to the others, catching the flat-faces out of the corner of her eye.

A bright ray of sunlight beamed its way in front of the bears, making them realize that the door outside of the Bear Bowl was only a few strides away. "When we get out, we have to be quick and get into the forest. There will be less commotion and people there!" Asuki warned the others.

Breaking through the doors and dodging the terrified flat-faces, the four-some bolted into giant stalks of bamboo. All bears were panting and dead tired, but they had to get far enough away that they wouldn't be followed. 'I'm… I'm not sure how much… longer I can go… I feel I could collapse right here…'

As soon as the Bear Bowl wasn't visible, Toklo skidded to a stop in front of a stream. "Here, we should be safe here. Drink your fill, and let's continue, but slower this time."

Refreshed, Kallik turned on Asuki. "How'd you know about those things about me? I didn't even know you until a few minutes ago?" The polar bear didn't seem angry, just a bit confused and frustrated.

"I… don't know… I just felt, I could connect with you guys. I feel I've met you guys, and I know your past. I don't know specifics, like names unless you tell me… But, I could sense what you were thinking about, or what happened in the past. I don't know how I got this talent…" Asuki turned away, worried. 'I've said too much.. This is my prophecy, I can't have them involved just yet…'

A bit satisfied, Kallik turned away. "Oh… Maybe you're like Urjurak but you have a different power…"

"I-I guess." Asuki turned back to the river, seeing her reflection in the water. The reflection showed a panda bear, but a lot older than Asuki had expected. 'Have I grown this much since the time without mama? This isn't me.. I need to be more careful about what I share now. If I'm not, it could mean the end..'

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><p>AN – Thanks for reading! Review if you have the time, tell us what you think! ~SnowArabian


	10. Toklo: Apologies

A/N – Hello everyone! Sorry for the delay! StarlitFire's laptop charger broke, so she was unable to write the chapter. She's asked me to take over the chapter, so here I am! After this, StarlitFire will write two chapters, and then we will be back onto our regular 1 chapter per two weeks. Anyways, hope you enjoy our latest chapter! ~ SnowArabian

10/16 – OH. MY. GOSH. I'm SOOOO sorry for this update! Truth is, I finished this chapter on July 29th, sent it StarlitFire and it got lost in her inbox of emails. She didn't have her charger by then, so I guess we both forgot it was there. Anyways, we owe you guys a major apology! Considering school's starting, and _some_ of us (cough, cough) need to work on our other FF's, we might not be updating super quick. ~SnowArabian

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><p>Toklo glanced at the worried panda bear staring at her reflection in the river. She had been sitting for a few minutes, while the others had went a short distance to explore the new terrain. The brown bear padded up behind Asuki, nudging her. "Hey, are you okay?"<p>

"H-huh? Yeah, I'm fine.." The panda bear murmured and cast her gaze to the river again.

Toklo gave up trying to break through Asuki's tangled thoughts. "Do you recognize where we are? It might help us find our way back."

Asuki pulled herself off of the ground and examined the forest surrounding her. Confusion clouded her dark eyes, with a hint of regret. "I'm sorry. I don't remember this part of the forest. My birth den was.. in a dark stony cave. But I was so young then, I wouldn't have memorized where it was. It was my whole world at the time, I was oblivious that there was an even bigger world outside."

Toklo felt a tinge of sympathy for the panda, she hadn't had nearly half of the experiences he had with Lusa and Kallik. "It's fine. C'mon, let's go see if Kallik and Lusa found a place to stay tonight. It's getting dark out, and we don't know what awaits us in the forest." Toklo ran off, kicking up clumps of dirt behind him. Stopping up ahead to see if Asuki was following him, he saw the panda take a longing glance at the river, then running to catch up with him not looking back.

"Kallik," Toklo greeted the snow white bear standing as lookout.

"Hi," Kallik casted a look back at the other bears. Lusa was snoozing, but her paw was twitching signaling that she'd be waking up soon. Asuki had crashed momentarily after they reached the spot they would stay, and she had been in a deep sleep ever since. "Do you.. do you trust Asuki?" Kallik asked hesitantly.

"I-I haven't known her as long as I've known you and Lusa. But I feel she was meant to be on this journey, maybe she's even our guide like Ujurak was."

"Even with… those 'powers' of hers?"

"Ujurak had powers, don't forget that." Toklo growled roughly, reminding the polar bear. "She's very careful about the personal information she shares. I think she may be hiding something, but I think she's just at a point where she isn't capable of sharing it. It took us all a long time to talk about our past stories with each other, she just needs time."

"I.. Okay, I'll try my best to include and trust her," Kallik agreed, ducking her head apologetically to Toklo.

"Huh? What's going on?" A tired Lusa called out softly, still half asleep.

"We're.. talking about.. where we'll travel tomorrow!" Kallik improvised.

Waking up, Lusa rubbed her eyes. "No, you're not. Tell me." Lusa shook her tired and sore paws and repeated, "Tell me."

Toklo and Kallik exchanged a hesitant glance and stared at the defiant black bear.

"Well you see.."

"It's sort of a long story.." Both bears began at once, realizing they had different stories to share.

"Please tell me? We've been through everything together. I have a right to know."

"It's about Asuki." Kallik said.

"Asuki? Why her? I know she's new and all, but now she's a part of our group."

"She's a bit.. strange and we think she's our guide, like Ujurak," Toklo explained. "This is her homeland, and who is best to guide us home than her?"

"That's not it.. There's something else. Something that you're not telling me." Lusa said, narrowing her eyes at the two larger bears.

"I… I don't really like her.."Kallik confessed. "I don't trust her, and I don't feel she belongs with us."

"Why not? She's really nice, you just have to get to know her, that's all!"

"I know. She does seem nice and all. She.. knew about my past. And I guess that scared me since I thought only I would know it.." The polar bear explained.

Lusa gave her stressed friend a affectionate nudge and gazed up at the bright twinkling stars above their heads. "We all were surprised about the way she knew our pasts, I felt freaked out at first too. But she's a really kind, sweet bear and I feel like she's meant to be with us. We have to take care of her. I have a feeling that her past was hard too, considering she never talks about it.."

"I'll have to apologize to her tomorrow. I was rude to her and I had just met her." Kallik murmured, noticing her mistakes.

"I'm sure she'll forgive you." Toklo commented.

"And if you need someone to talk to, you can always talk to Toklo or I." Lusa whispered as she noticed Asuki stirring in her sleep. "Now, some of us need some sleep, or otherwise we'll end up spending another night here.."

"I'll take watch. You both get some rest. I'll wake you at sunrise." Toklo volunteered. Kallik shot him a grateful glance, then padded over to their resting area and curled up. Lusa lingered beside him, staring at the cold, bleek stars overhead.

"That was nice of you. Standing up for Asuki like that," Lusa whispered.

"What! I wasn't standing up for her. I just didn't want us to be fighting, that's all." Toklo said gruffly, trying to cover up his embarrassment.

"I wasn't accusing you.. I just thought it was kind of you to do that for her, especially since you don't get along very well with.. new.. bears."

"Hmph." Toklo pointedly ignored the black bear sitting next to him.

"Uh-huh, yeah that's right. Ignore Lusa. That will solve allllll of your problems.." Lusa teased. The black bear shoved him, trying to get a reaction out of his frozen face.

Noting that she wasn't getting through, the look of glee faded. "I'm sorry. I just thought.. that you've changed a lot since we first met.. That's all." Lusa turned to the sleeping area, murmured "Good night" and started to curl up.

"Hey.. Wait." Toklo called after her.

Lusa opened her eyes and stared at him, still curled up.

"I'm.. You're right. I just didn't really want to know I've changed. My mother Oka thought of change as a weakness, and I guess I started to think that way too. And.. after Ujurak left, he made me vow to welcome any new bears into our group. I wanted to fulfill that vow till the end, as it was something special to us." Toklo quietly explained. "I'm sorry.." The large brown bear, turned away shuffling his paws on the ground.

Careful not to disturb the others, Lusa walked up to Toklo's side and rested her head on his side. "Thank you, for telling me.. It means a lot.."

Toklo looked down, surprised at the affection from the black bear. He nudged her softly and whispered "Go rest. We have a big day tomorrow."

The black bear nodded sleepily and curled up. In moments, she was sleeping. Toklo sat, watching the stars.

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><p>AN ~ Hope you guys liked it! ~StarlitFire


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